U.S. patent number 8,190,355 [Application Number 12/247,451] was granted by the patent office on 2012-05-29 for driving assistance and monitoring.
This patent grant is currently assigned to International Business Machines Corporation. Invention is credited to Ossama Emam, Dimitri Kanevsky.
United States Patent |
8,190,355 |
Emam , et al. |
May 29, 2012 |
Driving assistance and monitoring
Abstract
A data processing method for alerting a first vehicle when
entering and/or residing in a blind spot of at least one second
vehicle and a system and a computer program implementing such a
method. A method in accordance with an embodiment includes:
determining and dynamically updating the position of second
vehicle, the blind spot of the second vehicle, and the time for the
first vehicle to enter the blind spot. An alarm signal is generated
when the first vehicle is entering or residing in a blind spot of
the second vehicle. The method also includes steps to generate
direction for the first vehicle to avoid entering in or to leave
the blind spot of the second vehicle.
Inventors: |
Emam; Ossama (Mohandessen,
EG), Kanevsky; Dimitri (Ossining, NY) |
Assignee: |
International Business Machines
Corporation (Armonk, NY)
|
Family
ID: |
40533651 |
Appl.
No.: |
12/247,451 |
Filed: |
October 8, 2008 |
Prior Publication Data
|
|
|
|
Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20090096634 A1 |
Apr 16, 2009 |
|
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 10, 2007 [EP] |
|
|
07118174 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
701/300; 359/865;
248/148; 248/467; 359/843; 200/61; 180/169; 359/742; 248/479;
359/850; 359/844 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G08G
1/167 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
17/10 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;701/300
;359/742,843,844,850,865,864,866,868,871,872,875,877
;248/148,467,479 ;240/435,901,903,904 ;180/169 ;200/61.27,61.54
;369/909 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Trammell; James
Assistant Examiner: Marc; McDieunel
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Hoffman Warnick LLC Bauer;
Andrea
Claims
The invention claimed is:
1. A method for alerting a first vehicle when entering or residing
in a blind spot of a second vehicle, the method comprising:
detecting by a processor a second vehicle in a surrounding area of
the first vehicle; determining the processor a blind spot position
of the second vehicle based on data relating to the second vehicle,
wherein the determining further comprises computing data
representing a length of the second vehicle and a height of a
driver of the second vehicle, the blind spot position being further
determined according to the length and the height; and alerting a
driver of the first vehicle with an alarm when the first vehicle is
entering or residing in the blind spot.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining further
comprises: computing data representing a position of the second
vehicle, the blind spot position being determined according to a
position of the second vehicle.
3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: dynamically
updating the blind spot position according to a speed and
orientation of the second vehicle, the updating further comprising
computing data relating to the speed and orientation.
4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising: modeling a
behavior of the driver of the second vehicle, the blind spot
position being further updated according to the behavior.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the modeling further
comprises: computing data related to the behavior of the driver of
the second vehicle according to at least one of: average value of
characteristics of a typical driver and a range of the values; data
relating to an environment of the second vehicle; and data relating
to at least one of a position and an orientation of a head of the
second vehicle driver.
6. The method according to claim 3, further comprising: computing
data relating to at least one of a shape of a travel road of the
second vehicle and a behavior of surrounding vehicles, the
orientation of the second vehicle being determined according to at
least one of the shape and behavior.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one parameter
is determined by the second vehicle and a surrounding third vehicle
and communicated to the first vehicle, each parameter being
selected from the group consisting of: a position of the blind
spot; a position of the second vehicle; a speed of the second
vehicle; an orientation of the second vehicle; a trajectory or
travel road shape of the second vehicle; a height of a driver of
the second vehicle; and a behavior of the driver of the second
vehicle.
8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: calculating
a time for the first vehicle to enter the blind spot.
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the alarm comprises at
least one of a light and a sound signal.
10. The method according claim 1, wherein a different alarm is
provided when the first vehicle is residing in the blind spot, or
the first vehicle is entering the blind spot.
11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: indicating
at least one direction to the driver of the first vehicle to avoid
entering the blind spot or to leave the blind spot.
12. A system for alerting a first vehicle when entering or residing
in a blind spot of a second vehicle, comprising: a system for
detecting a second vehicle in a surrounding area of the first
vehicle; a system for determining a blind spot position of the
second vehicle based on data relating to the second vehicle,
wherein the system for determining further comprises a system for
computing data representing a length of the second vehicle and a
height of a driver of the second vehicle, the blind spot position
being further determined according to the length and the height;
and a system for alerting a driver of the first vehicle with an
alarm when the first vehicle is entering or residing in the blind
spot.
13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the system for
determining further comprises: a system for computing data
representing a position of the second vehicle, the blind spot
position being determined according to a position of the second
vehicle.
14. The system according to claim 12, further comprising: a system
for dynamically updating the blind spot position according to a
speed and orientation of the second vehicle, the updating further
comprising computing data relating to the speed and
orientation.
15. The system according to claim 14, further comprising: a system
for modeling a behavior of the driver of the second vehicle, the
blind spot position being further updated according to the
behavior.
16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the system for
modeling further comprises: a system for computing data related to
the behavior of the driver of the second vehicle according to at
least one of: average value of characteristics of a typical driver
and a range of the values; data relating to an environment of the
second vehicle; and data relating to at least one of a position and
an orientation of a head of the second vehicle driver.
17. The system according to claim 14, further comprising: a system
for computing data relating to at least one of a shape of a travel
road of the second vehicle and a behavior of surrounding vehicles,
the orientation of the second vehicle being determined according to
at least one of the shape and behavior.
18. The system according to claim 12, wherein at least one
parameter is determined by the second vehicle and a surrounding
third vehicle and communicated to the first vehicle, each parameter
being selected from the group consisting of: a position of the
blind spot; a position of the second vehicle; a speed of the second
vehicle; an orientation of the second vehicle; a trajectory or
travel road shape of the second vehicle; a height of a driver of
the second vehicle; and a behavior of the driver of the second
vehicle.
19. The system according to claim 12, further comprising: a system
for calculating a time for the first vehicle to enter the blind
spot.
20. The system according to claim 12, wherein the alarm comprises
at least one of a light and a sound signal.
21. The system according claim 12, wherein a different alarm is
provided when the first vehicle is residing in the blind spot, or
the first vehicle is entering the blind spot.
22. The system according to claim 12, further comprising: a system
for indicating at least one direction to the driver of the first
vehicle to avoid entering the blind spot or to leave the blind
spot.
23. A system comprising: a vehicle; and a system for alerting a
first vehicle when entering or residing in a blind spot of at a
second vehicle, the system for alerting comprising: a system for
detecting the second vehicle in a surrounding area of the first
vehicle; a system for determining a blind spot position of the
second vehicle based on data relating to the second vehicle,
wherein the system for determining further comprises a system for
computing data representing a length of the second vehicle and a
height of a driver of the second vehicle, the blind spot position
being further determined according to the length and the height;
and a system for alerting a driver of the first vehicle with an
alarm when the first vehicle is entering or residing in the at
least one blind spot.
24. A computer program loaded on a non-transitory computer readable
medium, comprising instructions for alerting a first vehicle when
entering or residing in a blind spot of a second vehicle, when said
computer program is executed on a computer system, the instructions
comprising: detecting a second vehicle in a surrounding area of the
first vehicle; determining a blind spot position of the second
vehicle based on data relating to the second vehicle, wherein the
determining further comprises computing data representing a length
of the second vehicle and a height of a driver of the second
vehicle, the blind spot position being further determined according
to the length and the height; and alerting a driver of the first
vehicle with an alarm when the first vehicle is entering or
residing in the at least one blind spot.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of driving assistance
and monitoring for vehicles. More precisely, the present invention
pertains to a blind spot monitoring system and, more specifically,
relates to systems, methods and computer programs that alert a
driver of a vehicle when entering and residing in another vehicle's
various blind spots.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Drivers on today's roads are faced with the problem of a blind
spot. This causes many drivers to get into accidents, e.g., because
they switch lanes and are hit by a vehicle travelling in their
blind spot.
In spite of having a plurality of mirrors there are usually areas,
known as blind spots, which are not covered by the mirrors. Very
often, the blind spots cover space to the left and right sides as
well as directly behind the vehicle. The position of side and rear
view mirrors can reduce the side blind spots. However, it is
impossible to eliminate all blind spots with mirror adjustment. The
exact area varies depending on the type of vehicle and height of
driver.
The work that has been done to solve the blind spot problem is
directed towards developing blind spot monitoring systems that will
alert the driver of vehicles present in their own blind spots.
There is also known an image generation apparatus, as described in
US patent application US 2007/0009137, comprising one or more
camera units installed on a first body. The camera units are used
for capturing the image around the first body. The image generation
apparatus further comprises a blind spot calculation unit for
calculating blind spot information of a second body. Examples of
the second body include a vehicle, but also a pedestrian, building,
etc. Further, the blind spot information consists in data
representing a zone that is a blind spot for the driver. The blind
spot information is displayed to driver of the first body.
Nevertheless, the known methodologies have a number of drawbacks.
They require image transmission systems having a sufficient quality
for the user to perceive a clear picture, which requires working
with a high number of pixels. There must be space in the passenger
compartment to be able to accommodate the corresponding screen.
They are, therefore, expensive systems, which are not easy to use
in situations of risk. Moreover, they don't process the image but
only transmit it. The vehicle's driver has to visually view every
surrounding vehicle, which may be time consuming and dangerous,
especially when there are several second vehicles.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method, system, and computer
program for safely, quickly, and efficiently informing a driver of
a first vehicle when entering in a blind spot of another
vehicle.
The present invention further provides a method, system, and
computer program for informing a driver of a first vehicle of
possibilities for reacting when entering in a blind spot of another
vehicle.
The present invention comprises a method for alerting a first
vehicle when entering or residing in a blind spot of at least one
second vehicle. This method is dynamically carried out on a real
time or periodic basis, and comprises:
detecting at least one second vehicle in a surrounding area of the
first vehicle; determining at least one blind spot position of the
at least one second vehicle, based on data relating to the at least
one second vehicle; and alerting a driver of the first vehicle with
an alarm signal that the first vehicle is entering or residing in
the at least one blind spot.
Thanks to the invention, the driver of the first vehicle is alerted
when entering or residing in at least one blind spot of at least
one second vehicle. Thus, the driver of the first vehicle does not
have to visually track and analyze an image, and can focus on the
road and driving actions. The method according to the invention
enables a driver to be informed when entering or residing in a
blind spot of at least another vehicle more safely, quickly, and
efficiently than the prior art methods and systems.
In addition, the present invention does not necessarily need image
transmission. Therefore the system implementing the method
according to the invention is less expensive than currently known
blind spot monitoring systems.
By vehicle, it is meant all types of transportation means, for
instance a rolling, flying, and/or floating body. Examples of
vehicle include bicycle, vehicle, bus, truck, plane, ship, a
submarine, or the like.
The alarm signal may be a light or sound or tactile signal or a
combination thereof. In addition, different alarm signals may be
triggered according to different situations, such as whether the
first vehicle is residing in the blind spot or is entering or
leaving this blind spot.
The blind spot determination may comprise computing data
representing the position and possibly the type of the second
vehicle. The blind spot area, i.e., its dimensions and position, is
computed according to the position of the second vehicle. Moreover,
the computed blind spot effective area is computed or modified
according to the average dimension of a blind spot for the specific
type of the second vehicle. For example, rear blind spots for a
first type of car may range from 12-17 feet behind the vehicle, may
range from 13-23 feet for a second type of car, and may range from
29-51 feet for a third type of car. Each of these ranges accounts
for various heights of the driver.
The determining may furthermore comprise computing data
representing the second vehicle driver's height and the length of
the second vehicle or of its trailer, the blind spot position being
further determined according to these measurements.
Moreover, the invention dynamically and repeatedly updates the
blind spot positions according to second vehicle speed and
orientation. Before or interleaved with the updating, the method
according to the invention may comprise at least one iteration of
computing data relating to the speed and orientation.
The method according to the invention may thus comprise computing
data relating to the shape of the travel road as seen from the
first vehicle and/or the behavior of the surrounding vehicles, for
determining the orientation and/or trajectory of the second
vehicle. The speed of the second vehicle may be determined by known
methods and systems.
In an embodiment, the method may comprise modeling the second
vehicle driver's behavior, the blind spot positions being further
updated according to the driver behavior. The modeling of the
behavior of the second vehicle's driver may comprise the
computation of data related to:
the average value of characteristics of a typical driver and the
range of the values;
the data relating to the second vehicle's environment; and/or
the data relating to the position and/or the orientation of the
head of the second vehicle driver.
Moreover, according to the invention, at least one parameter may be
determined by the second vehicle itself and/or at least one
surrounding third vehicle and communicated to the first vehicle,
the parameter being chosen among the following parameters:
the absolute or relative position of at least one blind spot of the
second vehicle;
the position of the second vehicle;
the speed of the second vehicle;
the orientation of the second vehicle;
the second vehicle trajectory or its modeled travel road shape;
the height of the second vehicle's driver; or
the behavior of the second vehicle's driver.
The invention further includes calculating the time for the first
vehicle to enter the blind spot according to the position of this
blind spot, the position of the first vehicle, the speed of the
second vehicle, and the speed of the first vehicle.
In another embodiment, an indication is provided to the first
driver regarding at least one direction for avoiding entering a
blind spot of the second vehicle, or for leaving a blind spot of
the second vehicle in which the first vehicle is residing. The
method according to the invention provides guidance for the first
vehicle to how to move away from blind spot or to how to avoid
entering the blind spot. To this extent, the method predicts a
direction for the first vehicle to change its course and make sure
that it does not distract the driver of the first vehicle and does
not cause the first vehicle to enter in other dangerous situations
by suggesting to change the course. For example, the indication can
be "slow-down". Before indicating the first vehicle to slow down,
it is made sure that there is no car behind the first vehicle that
would or could hit the first vehicle. This is especially important
since blind spots often occur when the first vehicle overtakes with
high speed the second vehicle and slowing down is very dangerous.
Other indications may comprise "speed up", "turn left", "turn
right" or a combination of at least two of these indications.
The invention also provides a system comprising computer means
adapted for implementing the method according to the invention and
a vehicle comprising such a system.
The invention further provides a computer program comprising
instructions for implementing the steps of the method according to
the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The various embodiments of the present invention, modes of use, and
aspects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by
reference to the following detailed description read in conjunction
with the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a dangerous situation where a
first vehicle is in the blind spot of a second vehicle.
FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a logic view of a system according
to the invention.
FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a logic view of a vehicle's
dynamic monitoring module according to the invention.
FIG. 4 schematically illustrates the progress of a process to
calculate time to enter a blind spot according to the
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In the following specifications, elements common to several figures
are referenced through a common identifier.
FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of an example of a risk
situation that car drivers are facing on the road.
As shown in FIG. 1, a first car 102 is residing in the blind spot
104 of a second car 106. A third car 108 is about to enter the
blind spot of the second car 106. Indeed, only lateral area 110 is
directly visible when the driver of the second car 106 turns his
head to the left, thus losing his visual track. Rear area 112 can
be seen by the driver of the second car 106 through the rear-view
mirror. The third car 108 can be seen by the driver of the second
car 106 through the rear-view mirror. The left rear area 104 is the
blind spot of this second vehicle 106. The first car 102 is
positioned in the blind spot 104 and therefore cannot be seen by
the driver of the second car 106.
According to the invention, the blind spot 104 of a second car 106
may be identified using different methods according to the
available data.
In an embodiment, a combination of these different methods is used
in real-time, according to the data currently available.
A main basic method is carried out by assuming that the driver in
the second car 106 has a standard position and environment, e.g.,
looks straight ahead and has some typical location height for
his/her head and some typical orientation for a mirror in the car.
On this basis, the blind spot 104 is pre-calculated in advance and
is the same for each type of a car. Thus, the first car 102 or the
third car 108 detects the presence of the second car 106 and
determines its blind spot 104. As a result, the driver of the first
car 102 is alerted when traveling into the blind spot area 104 of
the second vehicle 106.
A complementary method, which may be optional in the system, uses a
monitoring system in the first car 102 or the third car 108 for
observing the driver and his environment in the second car 106 and
uses this information for dynamically computing or updating the
blind spot 104.
Yet another complementary method can be carried out when the second
car 106 is itself equipped with a monitoring system compatible with
the monitoring system of the first car 102 and is in communication
with the monitoring system of the first car 102.
The monitoring system in the second car 106 is able to detect a
driver head position and calculate dynamically the blind spot of
the second car 106. An example of such a monitoring system is
described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,792,339, entitled "Artificial
passenger with condition sensors".
The monitoring system in the second car 106 communicates the data
to other nearby cars, including the first car 102 and the third car
108. This enables the intelligent system in the first car 102 and
second car 106 to calculate more accurately the blind spot 104 of
the second car 106.
FIG. 2 is a logic view of different component parts of a system
according to the present invention. For a given first vehicle 102
or a third vehicle 108, a travel road detector 202, such as the one
described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,016,517, entitled "Travel road
detector" can be used for detecting the shape of the travel path or
trajectory. Also, a vehicle detector 204 is provided that is
capable of detecting another vehicle existing at least in the
vicinity of the host vehicle. An example of a vehicle detector is
described in patent application US 2006/0089799, entitled "Vehicle
detector and vehicle detecting method".
The output of the travel road detector 202, i.e., the shape of the
modeled travel road, and the output of the vehicle detector 204,
i.e., the nearby vehicles, are fed to a dynamic monitoring of
vehicles module 206. The dynamic monitoring of vehicles module 206
uses the input information about the road model and the surrounding
vehicles for generating a report that is sent to a blind spot
detector 208. The blind spot detector 208 calculates the time
needed to enter blind spots, and predicted duration of staying in
those blind spots. It also uses an event verifier 210 that receives
continuous updates from the dynamic monitoring of vehicles module
206 to check the validity of the calculated assumptions. The blind
spot detector 208 communicates the final decision to an alert
generator 212, which generates the correct alert based on
pre-defined alert definitions. For instance, the driver can choose
to have sound and/or light and/or a vibrating flashing alert. Such
an alert may also be set for displaying the alert in a position
that is indicative of the orientation of the blind spot that he/she
enters, e.g., relative to his vehicle. This sound/light/tactile
alert may change tone or speed of flashing based on the approaching
of the blind spot and also the residing in or leaving that blind
spot. In the example of FIG. 1, the alert generator 212 in the
first car 102 indicates a direction for leaving the blind spot 104,
and the alert generator in the third car 108 indicates a direction
for avoiding entering the blind spot 104.
FIG. 3 is a logic view of different component parts of the dynamic
monitoring of vehicles module 206. The input to the dynamic
monitoring of vehicles module 206 is the location of surrounding
vehicles which is output by the vehicle detector 204, and the
travel road shape or model, which is output by the travel road
detector 202. This information is used by an orientation sensor 302
to decide the orientation, left or right or more accurate path or
trajectory, of any preceding second vehicle that is candidate for
generating residing blind spots.
The output of the orientation sensor 302 is input to a speed
detector 304 which detects the speed of each of those candidate
vehicles. The output of the orientation sensor 302 and the output
of the speed detector 304 are input to a vehicular navigation
system 306 which is used to detect the exact position and
coordinates, and possibly type, of those candidate vehicles.
A driver modeling module 308, receiving the output of the vehicular
navigation system 306, uses average characteristics and range of
these characteristics for a typical driver in each of the candidate
vehicles, e.g., a height of a driver, direction where a driver
looks, etc., to pre-calculate residing blind spots for each of the
candidate vehicles.
A final report generator 310 is used to consolidate the input from
the speed detector 304, the vehicular navigation system 306, and
the driver modeling module 308 for generating a final report
output, towards the blind spot detector 208.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a method according to the
invention.
At A1, moving vehicles in the vicinity of a host vehicle are
detected. At A2, the shape of the travel path or trajectory is
detected. The output of A1 and A2 are used at A3 to detect the
orientation of each moving object.
At A4, the exact position and coordinates of each of the moving
objects are detected. At A5, the speed of each of the moving
objects is detected. At A6, the driver's behavior for each of the
moving objects and pre-calculations of blind spot positions are
modeled. At A7, using the output of A5 and A6, a report about the
blind spot positions and speeds is generated.
At A8, residing blind spots and the time to enter a blind spot are
detected. At A9, the residing blind spots and the time to enter a
blind spot are verified. At A10, an alert signal is generated. At
A11, an indication of direction to avoid a blind spot is
provided.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described
mainly with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be
understood that various changes in form and detail may be made
therein without departing from the spirit, and scope of the
invention.
* * * * *